Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) Billet Cam Plates

[JWomack]

I Was Wondering If I Could Get Some Feedback From Fellow Members? I Own A Diesel Performance Shop And Have Started Making Billet Cam Plates For P7100 Trucks. I Have Taken These Plates To Local Pump Shops And They Are Telling Me They Are The Nicest Plates They Have Ever Seen And Quickly Offered To Purchase These From Me. I Have Some Posted In The Classifieds If You Wish To Take A Look. My Question Is I Guess To See If You Would Rather Buy A One Piece Plate Over The Two Piece Plates If You Had A Choice. My Kits Include Boost Fitting, Replacement Bolt, Guide Plate, And Cam Plate. I Have Told Pump Shops The List Price Is $199. 99. Iam Offering These To Members For $149. 99. Dealers Are Welcome And Get Even More Of A Discount, If You Are A Dealer And Are Interested Please Contact Me For Pricing. Right Now All I Have Is The #10 Plate Available With The #6 Plate In The Works. If There Is Another Plate That Would Interest Anyone Please Let Me Know And I Will Start Making It Also. Thanks For Your Time And Interest. Diesel Power & Performance. 316-990-5780



I forgot to mention these are made with T-7 7075 aluminum!

 

[Bhale]

Why are you making them from aluminum instead of (hardened)steel? Sure, they machine faster but also wear faster. Won't aluminum oxidize, particularly at the wear points?



Brian

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

They will last a few days

I designed the 10 and worked with TST on some of the other designs. If you want to make a profit on someone else's intellectual property, could you use your own numbering system

 

[JWomack]

If TST would work with dealers a little better on price people wouldnt be interested in making their own. As far as weraing out the aluminum, this is a harder substance than the factory plates are made of!

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Billet is?? I'm no metallurgist but I can't see billet being harder than the steel the stockers are made from



EDIT: I see there's such a thing as billet steel, is that what the material is?

 

[Doubleclutch]

Making their own is one thing, but then selling it is another. Just my $. 02, pun intended.

Greg

 

[RonA]

I just bought a plate from Bosch for 58. 00. They are made out of steel. The area where the arm rides is heat treated. I'm guessing to around 55Rc or so. 7075 is one of the strongest normally used aluminum alloys. It could be hard anodized for a tough surface finish that is about . 002 thick or so. Aluminum is not generally used as a friction surface for a steel counterpart. Anodizing will help. Strength wise it does not compare to steel. If you want to copy the plates you might consider making them out of mild steel and then having them nitrided for a hard wear surface. But, if you grind on either you will loose the hard surface. As a side note, billet usually refers to being machined out of a solid piece of material. A billet head would be machined from solid, not cast and then machined.

 

[pwerwagn]

Personally, I'll stick to TST. I know they are right. They are one piece also.

Besides, what difference does it make that they are aluminum, besides being easier to machine? Its not for weight savings, doesnt offer any more performance, doesnt matter if it looks better, maybe the cost????

Not being mean, just asking.

--Jeff

 

[mjoppie]

if im not mistaken a tst kit from piers is only $195, so this would be more. not bashing you or your stuff but if your gonna make them because of cost at least make them a little better than $199. im not going to say any names but ive seen places that sell tst plates for $150, any number.



rona, your exactly right. billet is made from a single solid piece of material. most of the time its stronger because theres no welds or places to crack (learned this in school)



i too would worry about aluminum being in my pump, i dont see it oxidizeing, because of the constant oil contact. but being softer than steel. i was going to make some al cam plates, but for key chains for a few friends. thought it would be neat.



matt

 

[Piers]

Yep, $195. 00, less your TDR 10% discount is $175. 50

Like Joe said, if you're gonna copy someone elses R&D at least come up with your own part numbers :--)



By the way, how is life treating you Joe? Knees are healing up well I hope

 

[CATCRACKER]

at $150 its still alot cheaper to grind your own. and if you dont like how it turns out or dont have mech. skills and a grinder buy one from TST / piers etc. for me no thanks on the aluminnnnnnum.

 

[mjoppie]

i would be intrested in how there being cut. are you using a mill, a cnc or what. why dont you machine them out if steel. ya know stainless would be cool, polish er up and take the afc housing off at shows. sorry i got away from thought.

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

TST plates are billet steel, a particular alloy, and heat treated to Rc 60. They are precision ground and each . 001 matters if you want a specific fuel curve. I have NEVER seen a TST plate with wear on it, other than light polishing from the rocker rubbing it.



I am surprised that one considers it to be acceptable to "take" something just because its price is more than you want to pay. As noted above, the genuine article is available at reasonable cost.



If someone wants to wing it and try his own fueling curve, OK. That is different. In fact, I did some of that back in 1997-98 and some of the better curves that I found either myself or with Mark (TST) are now available. Why copy when there are infinite varieties possible to fit special needs?



Other companies have developed their own fueling curves and sell their own designs/products, such as Diesel Dynamics.

 

[RonA]

Maybe one of the big plate makers could offer a kit that you could put a deposit on that contained an assortment of plates. You could try a couple of different ones, keep the one you want and send the rest back for a refund. Maybe that way a guy wouldn't have to spend a grand buying plates before he found the one he liked best.

 

[Bhale]

I Have Taken These Plates To Local Pump Shops And They Are Telling Me They Are The Nicest Plates They Have Ever Seen And Quickly Offered To Purchase These From Me

Can you tell us who these shops are? I'd like to talk to them and get their input.

As far as weraing out the aluminum, this is a harder substance than the factory plates are made of!

This is simply Not true. I had my stock plate tested at work today and it came to 52-56 Rockwell on the C scale. 7075 T7 tested on the same scale with a sample of 5 times each (3 different chunks) gave results between 11 and 23. A variance that large means your testing with the wrong scale, the material is too soft. The QC guys knew this would happen, our shop buys tons of aluminum every week. 7075 test to 78-83 on the Rockwell B scale, much much softer than even 1018 mild steel.



As for the wear properties, try to file a piece of steel at 50-60 Rc and then try a piece of aluminum.







I'll support a company or individual that brings new a product to market based on their own R and D testing. If it's a good product they get rewarded. I will NOT support a company or individual that wants to make money by copying someone else's product. All this does is take money away from the folks that do the R and D, in turn discouraging them from developing new products.



Brian

 

[Piers]

Ron, if you want to try that, I'd be happy to send you a full compliment of TST plates & a few of my own design to try. No charge, as I know you are a very honest guy. Keep the one you like the best, send the rest back.

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

Ron, there is a huge body of info by now on the performance of different TST plates. There are several very knowledgeable people who share their advice free just for the asking. Just to name ones in this thread, there are Mark Chapple, Piers, and myself.

 

[mjoppie]

i belive tst will trade a plate for free within 30 days of purchase. after that its only $50. i would have to agree with joe donnelly on this one, he has put a lot of time and development into these and credit should be givin to him for that. just copying a design and selling it isnt right. i have ground my own plates and helped others but would not even think about tracing one of his/thiers out and selling it. i have had several tst plates and they never let me down, always impressive. (except they need to make one that makes 500hp and no egt issues :-laf j/k) if your gonna try and improve on a product then thats fine, just dont copy it.





matt

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Maybe one of the big plate makers could offer a kit that you could put a deposit on that contained an assortment of plates. You could try a couple of different ones, keep the one you want and send the rest back for a refund. Maybe that way a guy wouldn't have to spend a grand buying plates before he found the one he liked best.

I wish I would have thought of that! I now have 4 plates and only 1 truck. I have spent over $1000 Canadian on fuel plates! Still running the # 10... .....

 

[RonA]

I am not complaining about how the plate thing is handled. The only reason I bought the Bosch plate was to see what one looked like. It is currently beyond my wildest dreams for my truck to be running well enough to start messing with plates. I am glad to hear that TST offers an exchange program like that. I thank you for the offer Piers. Once again your customer service is the best.